2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This empirical research brief expands on an existing research study to uncover the connections between humanitarian engineering, professional formation, and views of equity and inclusion. The objective of the project is focused on creating a more inclusive workplace environment which will support increased diversity in the field of engineering. Humanitarian engineering or community-engaged engineering has been well-studied to have positive impacts on the technical and professional skills of students. This study expands to investigate the impacts on more social and behavioral qualities like challenging discrimination and enacting inclusion. Three groups of participants, students and alumni of a humanitarian engineering program as well as professionals not affiliated with the program, were invited to complete a survey focused on professional responsibility and inclusive behaviors. Four factors from the survey were used to determine correlation using a Pearson’s r test and significance using a t test. The correlation was compared across and within the three participant groups and also as sub-groups separated by past participation in a humanitarian engineering project. The analysis found that there was weak to moderate correlation between feelings of professional responsibility and inclusive behaviors among the participant groups. Within the subgroups of participants who had experience in a humanitarian engineering project, there was some moderate correlation between professional responsibility and inclusive behaviors, specifically for professionals and alumni. This suggests that participants who had experience in a humanitarian engineering project who practice professional responsibility tend to also enact inclusive behaviors. Though this quantitative analysis provides some insight into correlation between professional responsibility and inclusive behaviors, qualitative research would provide a better understanding of the complex attitudes and behaviors, especially around the impacts from humanitarian engineering projects. Conclusions drawn from these analyses will guide the development of a model and framework that may be used by other engineering educators to create inclusive engineers through humanitarian engineering.